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MSPA Wiki:Signature policy
The purpose of a user's signature on the wiki is to identify that user when they sign posts. Accordingly, while we allow users to customise their signatures, there are certain limits that must be adhered to, in order to ensure that the primary purpose of signatures is not compromised. #A link to the user's userpage is mandatory, and the text of a signature must include the username, or at least something extremely similar, in clearly readable Latin text. All of this is to ensure the purpose of identification is not compromised. #Signatures should not have pointless excess text. This is because having a large quantity of text that is not the username detracts from the purpose, and also looks untidy. Something like -- Username (talk|contribs) , , (UTC) is fine. Anything much longer than that is not. Furthermore, all text in the signature should serve a purpose by linking to a page. If the text is not a useful contribution to the signature, it should be left out. #*It is suggested, but not mandatory, that the signature include a link to the user's talk page. This link can be separate, as above, or some of the username text may be used. #Images, text, frames, or whatever else goes into the signature must not exceed 15 pixels in height, i.e. the signature must not increase inline height or visibly overlap the lines above and below. 15px is the height of a line of text. #Signatures may include no more than one small image. This rule is non-negotiable. #*Animations are strongly discouraged, and the gif, or anything similarly distracting, is prohibited. #*It is advised that if an image is used, a link be anchored to it, for example, to the user's talk page or contributions. This is similar to the guideline above of all excess text serving a purpose by being a useful link. #A certain amount of visual flair is permitted, but if it's more than about half a line of markup, make it a template, and ensure that it transcludes, not substitutes. See the section below for information on this. Signature customisation Permitted Just about any decoration possible with wikimarkup is permitted, provided it is in moderation and adheres to the above rules. Here are some examples of permitted customised signatures, in order of increasing complexity. Per Ankh, ED :Per Ankh uses no real markup flair in his signature. The only notable feature is that ED stands for experimentalDeity, his chumhandle, and those two letters link to his talk page. Ryūlóng (竜龍) :Ryulong's signature is simple. The accented letters are perfectly readable, and it is clear whose signature this is. There is a little colour used to make it more lively, but not to the point of being garish. Finally, the non-Latin text is permitted because it is not obscuring the username, and it serves a purpose by being a talk page link. Jimclo ' :Jimcloud's signature is plain text, decorated with each letter being a slightly different colour so as to form a gradient. The first three letters link to her userpage, the next three to her talk page, and the final two to her contributions. 'skaiarorNetbody :This old version of Sorceror Nobody's signature demonstrates perhaps the limit of what policy permits. His actual username was not used; however, his old chumhandle, skaiarorNetbody, was extremely similar to his username, and so he used it in his signature. Having since changed his chumhandle to something very different, he now uses his username in his signature. :Regardless of which of the two names is used, the signature uses a colour gradient, and also split linking, with the first half linking to Sorceror Nobody's userpage and the second to his talk page. Finally, it has a text glow effect which does not increase line height, and the glow radius (less than two pixels) is small enough that it doesn't visibly overlap other lines. Forbidden In order to avoid making a negative example of specific people, these samples are fabricated. However, they are all based on actual signatures which have been used on the wiki in the past. ǝwɐuɹǝs∩ :This is not Latin text. It is a string of mostly meaningless symbols that happen to resemble upside-down Latin text, and suffice to say, even if they were actual upside down letters, that still wouldn't be allowed. Signatures must be clearly readable. The user whose signature this is based on also had the "text" saying something not even remotely close to their username. NotARealUsername :The displayed name is nothing like the actual username, both the images and the frame are well over 15px high, and the images add nothing, as they don't link to anything other than their own File pages. Furthermore, there are two images, when only one is permitted. Usern@me~ :In the original signature, the leftmost image linked to the userpage (not ideal, but technically allowed), the text linked to the user talk page, and the aspect symbol linked to the user's contributions. However, the block of colour is over 15px and will therefore either increase line height or overlap surrounding lines. Two images is one too many, and the LE gif is specifically prohibited. Furthermore, given the colour splitting of the username, the LE gif is unneeded, as the userpage link could be on the green half of the username. The nonstandard use of an ampersat (@) and tilde (~) in the signature are, however, permissible, as they don't impair readability How to create a signature For a simple plain text signature, simply modify your custom signature field on . For a more complex signature that utilises a template e.g. the color template, further steps are needed. First create a page in your userspace, e.g. " " or " " – clicking on either of these links will take you to the page so that you can create it. On this page, save the markup for your signature. Your signature can then be used by simply typing " ~~~~~" (the five tildes are required for a timestamp) instead of the standard four tildes. If you want to be able to use your template signature by simply typing four tildes as normal, this is possible, but you must not simply transclude your signature into the custom signature field in your preferences. Doing so would substitute all of the code of your signature instead of just transcluding it, which would result in large blocks of markup all over talk pages. There are two ways to do this: Method 1 Create a second page in your userspace, e.g. " " (again, click the link to go there), and on that page, place the transclusion code, " " (assuming that's the title of your sig template as created above). You can then place this page as a transclusion, " ", in the custom field in your preferences. Now, when you use "~~~~" to sign, it will substitute the second page, which is simply a transclusion of the first, rather than substituting the first page and leaving a mess of code. Method 2 This method negates the need for a second signature page. Simply set the custom signature to substitute the first (and only) sig page, but ensure that it is modified with the parameter "Nosubst", like so: " ". Be warned that if the Nosubst is not applied correctly, this will substitute the full code, so be sure to check that it works – such as by placing ~~~~ in a personal , then clicking "show changes" to see the resulting code – before using it on the wiki proper. Category:Policy